Before Tris
by dauntless24
Summary: The life of a Dauntless initiate in the year before Tris joins, so look out for Four and Eric.
1. Choices

I stood there, paralyzed, the knife in one hand. I have to make a choice. My friend, Beatrice, who I went to mixed faction nursery with and who is in Abnegation once said 'One choice will transform you.' I heard her when she was outside with her brother, Caleb.

It may transform me, but I simply cannot pick. Erudite, Candor, Dauntless, Abnegation, Amity... I could never choose. I could stand here forever. So I do the least logical thing I could think of.. I span around three times with my eyes shut. I gasped as the blade off the knife punctured thee skin off my hand. Here goes. I stopped spinning. My hand dropped blood into hot coals. I am Dauntless.

Some things shock you, some things don't. I had every reason to cry out in shock. But I am Dauntless now. The Dauntless are never daunted by anything. They give me looks. Erudite to Dauntless is unusual, to say the least. But I am now Dauntless, so raise an eyebrow at the non-transfers eyeing me.

"What are you looking at?" I ask.

"You."

"I'd got that far, you idiot."

He grunts and walks off. More people are staring now, especially one Abnegation transfer.

"Hi" I say.

"Hello" he seems distant. I would guess he was still in shock from the decision he'd just made. The ceremony is finishing. I kind of enjoyed it. It's weird to think of Beatrice doing this next year. Everyone knows she won't stay in Abnegation. She's too different from the others in Abnegation. Too Dauntless. I try to stop to wave to her as we start to run but the flow of people soon pushes me into my new world. The Dauntless run everywhere. They're so fit and they do cool stuff like jump onto trains. Now so will I.


	2. Trains

The train was massive, looming up against the dark skyline. Maybe I wasn't so Dauntless. Maybe I should just go catch up the new Erudites. I'd got Erudite in the aptitude test, but that was more because it was what I'm programmed for.

I stand there and hope I can survive in Dauntless. Even jumping on a train frightens me, never mind punching people or whatever. But as I look round at the other initiates, the only one looking okay is the Abnegation boy. His face is serious,not daunted. I see why he left Abnegation. The train is approaching, so we all run at it, together heaving ourselves into the carriage. Everyone made it except for a Candor girl who was desperately trying to catch us up. I feel a stab of pity in my heart for her. She hasn't even made it to the Dauntless H.Q., never mind passed the initiation.

I glance around the carriage. Everyone is panting. I look over at the Abnegation boy, more to check all his limbs are still intact than anything. I vaguely recognize him from the newspapers my mother had made me read. "Tobias... Eaton." I say tentatively. He nods. I remember the story about some abusive father or whatever. I look round at the other initiates. Eric is the only one I recognize, as he's from Erudite, too. I disliked him at school greatly, mostly because of his attitude. He's so self-centered.

Only one Amity. He has sandy hair and smiles a lot. Slightly too much. Four Candors, not including the one that didn't make it. All of them sit in a circle, talking. Nine Dauntless. These will have an edge. I will watch out for them. Suddenly I spot a man in the corner. He lurks there, hiding. "Hello Sir. May I ask why you are sitting there in the corner?" I cannot help but talk Erudite to strangers, although I am suddenly aware of what I am doing.

"Sure. I'm your supervisor, Jack."He raises his voice above the hubbub of voices,"Guys, ya gotta jump off soon, so get to the door. I looked at him doubtfully, but followed the others. "Onto the rooftop." He says and jumps himself, leaving no choice but for us to follow. I made myself push off the train and the sudden gush of wind left me gasping as I hit the roof. I love this life already.

"Why on Earth can't we take the stairs?" I hear a Dauntless born guy ask Jack.

As some kind of reply, Jack shrugs and says, "I can't be bothered." I see him smile and tuck his hair behind his ear. (Note to self: Get rid of the silver Erudite pins in my hair and cut it short.) I take the pins out and chuck them over the roof edge. It is freeing to do so. "Okay, guys, we gotta move fast now. Who wants to jump off the roof?"

I gulp and step back from where my silver hairpins had plummeted to their death. I was _not_ gonna follow in their path. To everyone's surprise the Amity boy who smiles too much stepped forwards, and with one swift movement, pushes himself upward and forwards, like he has done it a million times. I scream because I cannot help it. He will surely die. I hear a faint shout from below, "First jumper-Josh!" I also hear a song-like Amity voice cheering, "I'm alive! I'm alive!" Thank God. It was a test. We won't all be forced to commit suicide on our first day. I smile and step casually off the roof. I won't have to follow my hairpins to death, I think as I plummet downwards, finally seeing a safety net below me. I collide with a faint whine. Just a crick in my neck is to show for a 50 meter drop, and frankly, to me, that's ace!

"Hey, Nose, what's your name?" I look down at myself. My name. What is my name? Josh isn't an Amity name, but Joshua is... so I can edit my name. I saw a hand reach down to help me up and grab it eagerly. I am hauled up into what I guess must be the Dauntless compound. "Tell us your name! C'mon, is there anybody in there?"

My name. No, it can't be Hannah anymore. Not in Dauntless. "Anna." I say.

"Sure. Now, get on with it, the next one will be down soon."

"Hey." I say to the Amity boy.

"Hi. Anna, was it?"

I nod. "Josh?"

"Yeah. Anna's not an Erudite name. You changed it?"

I nod again. "Yeah, from Hannah. You were Joshua?"

He nods. And smiles. It seems a change of name didn't change his over-the-top Amity smiling habits, then.

The others came and one by one I learned their names. The four Candors jumped one after the other and were called Jo, Harvey, Chloe and Sadie. Sadie looked a little bit like she would have rather gone to Amity, as she was very pale and shaking like a leaf. I thought Tobias might change his name to something like 'Toby', but I guess he felt too Abnegation to do anything that drastic. The Dauntless borns had cool names like Zeke.

Oh boy, if Dauntless doesn't work out for me, nothing will.


	3. Thoughts

Sorted into two (Dauntless born and non-Dauntless born), we proceeded into 'The Pit'. It is not how I imagine a pit, as mine is filled with sand, like in Kinder. This is basically a massive cave. We walk along it slowly and I have time to think. It is dark and I wonder how I let myself come into this life. Then I remember. It was luck. Pure luck. I chose by spinning around and I could have picked Abnegation and lived my life in gray. I would rather die than be Abnegation. Or Candor, come to think of it. It's just not me. But as I use my sleeve to wipe away the tear forming, I smell the bluebell perfume my mother once used. I _need_ Erudite. It's my home. I run from the Dauntless; I run the only way I know. Back to the net. I sit there for a minute, crying. Thinking of my tear ducts releasing salt water down my face. Remembering again that erudite isn't my faction anymore, and that the Dauntless don't analyse sadness.

"Nose!" I look around to see the man whose hand I grabbed when I hauled myself from the net earlier. "What on earth are you doing? The others are gonna see the Cavern. I know Noses like the Cavern as a fact. They love seeing Geography in action, and even though I'm Dauntless I can see when an Erudite is fascinated."

His voice was gentle and I let him lead me back slowly. I've never met a friendly Dauntless. Maybe I thought hastily about this faction... my faction.

"Stray Nose." The man says as we get to the 'Cavern'. It was amazing. But for now it was not the Geography I was appreciating. It was the rush of air and the sound of water. But then I started to crave information.

"What's the rock type?" I ask shyly. I just have to know.

"Slate, actually, creates a sweet little waterfall though, doesn't it?" The man says.

"Once an Erudite, always an Erudite!" Says a Candor, Harvey I think his name was.

"Once a Candor, always a Candor, always speaking your mind!" I retorted. I guess being Dauntless is getting to my head, but you know what, I don't care. He can't seem to think of a good argument back, so grunts and walks off.

"Now, listen up, guys. The reason the cavern is here is _not, _I repeat, _not_ for showing off your bravery. Stay well away from the sides, we do not want dead initiates. There will be plenty of opportunities to brag about your bravery later. I'm Amar, your coach. I'm going to give you nightmares. Let's go!"

We troop along in quiet, not silence, because of the Candors muttering behind me, but quiet. Here's your dorm, no separate girls and boys. Better for the boys, I guess, worse for the girls. Good luck. 6 am tomorrow wake-up. You'll find Dauntless clothes under your beds, along with bath and hand towels-etc. Goodnight, you will want to go to bed soon, tomorrow will be the worst day of your life!"

"Wanna bet?" I heard Tobias mutter. I wonder what forced him to leave Abnegation. I may never know, but I am starting to wonder if what the newspaper said was true- an abusive father may have been an issue at home.


End file.
